Why is this car beloved? It's so terribly ugly, and it doesn't have any redeeming features you'd expect from a 4x4 (space, cargo room, clearance)
Also, there was factory-optioned camper model called the Honda Element ECamper.
Like the FJ, the Element has suicide doors allowing you to load things like wheelchairs and surfboards.
I think a big reason it has the false misconception of being washable is that there is no carpeting (except on the SC) models. It was also rated as the #1 dog-owner vehicle, which means it tends to get muddy. Honda even had a dog-utility ramp for it: https://www.hondapartsnow.com/genuine/honda~pet~ramp~kit~08l...
The styling is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but if it's ugly at least it's cute ugly rather than the "I'm going to murder anyone who gets in my way"-ugly that seems to be trendy right now.
One of the things I miss the most was the lack of a giant center console/tunnel between the front seats, and the dash-mounted shifter. You could easily drive with e.g. a backpack/messenger bag/etc. between the seats, and the whole interior felt much less cramped (a huge contrast to my current Escape/Kuga). The rear seats had a great view over the heads of the front-seat passengers and tons of leg room and headroom.
Also the steep windshield and restrained amount of visual clutter on top of the dash was pretty great, especially in contrast to what's available nowadays, where you usually have a bunch of pointless shapes and textures constantly superimposed on your view of the world thanks to the reflection in the windshield.
The Element had huge interior space and was thoughtfully designed to be ultra-utilitarian. Most consumers don't actually need a gigantic 4x4 with huge ground clearance to drive to their camp site once a year, so they didn't include those things.
Honestly, the number of people who need high clearance 4x4 off-road vehicles ever is extremely small. Most people don't realize that something like the very capable Subaru Outback can actually conquer most casual offroad trails these days.
The Honda Ridgeline is another great example. It was the perfect truck for the way most people actually use a truck: mostly commuting, occasional light hauling and towing. It gets great gas mileage, has enough towing capacity to pull a side-by-side or even a car on a light trailer, and it's very thoughtfully designed. But it doesn't have the big truck look, so most people skip it. Early base models were even FWD, which is perfectly fine and reasonable for the average truck owner in warm climates, but consumers balked because nobody had ever seen a FWD truck before. (They dropped the FWD model eventually).
This is funny, because after I read "unnecessary ground clearance" the outback is exactly the car that came to mind! Most of the cars in that class (RAV4, Rogue, etc.) have lower clearance.
(I totaled a sedan on a logging road due to insufficient clearance and replaced that car with a Forester, which has the same clearance as the Outback. I generally concur that the Forester/Outback/Crosstrek strike a good balance for most off-roading needs, but the extra clearance is unnecessary for probably 99% of purchasers. Particularly the Outback which seems to be a super popular family car.)
I had an original sunset orange 2003 model and miss it often.
Edit: I sound like MCM and I don't like it.
That is in addition to offering AWD, stick shift, stow-able rear seating, better MPG, vinyl interior instead of carpet, removable moon-roof, none of which the Astro had.